Floor-laying tool



March 11, 1952 w 1 2,588,401

FLOOR-LAYING TOOL Filed April 21, 1949 INVENTOR. WILLIAM A. MILLER ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 11, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOOR-LAYING TOOL William A. Miller, near Weston, Colo.

Application April 21, 1949, Serial No. 88,755

1 Claim.

This invention relates to tools and facilities advantageously employable in the fitting and laying of flooringboards, and more particularly to means for positively interfitting and holding in place successive elements of tongue-and-groove flooring during the laying thereof over and against a sub-floor, and has as an object to provide animproved flooring clamp characterized by convenience and facility of use.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved construction and operative interrelation of elements constituting a flooring clamp employable in engagement with a sub-floor to facilitate the laying of matched flooring thereover.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved flooring clamp susceptible of rapid and convenient operative positioning and manip- .ulation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved flooring clamp retentive of pressureimposing operative adjustment upon release from applied manipulative factors.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved flooring clamp that is simple and inexpensive of manufacture in rugged, durable 'form,positive and efficient in operation, and effectively applicable to a wide range of particular uses.

With, the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which Figurel is asomewhat diagrammatic, perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention as positioned and arranged for practical use. Figure 2 is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, taken through the improvement on substantially the indicated line 22 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the construction according to Figure 2, certain elements of the latter view being broken away to conserve space. Figure 4 is a fragmentary, detail section taken substantially on the indicated line 4-4 of Figure 2.

It is wide-spread, conventional practice to construct buildings of many types and sizes with board sub-floors fixed in diagonal or perpendicular traversing relation to the usual floor joists and v to subsequently complete the desired finish floor by means of matched boards, generally edge tongued and grooved, laid over and secured to the sub-floor. A factor of consequence in the development of high quality finish floors is the close,

intimate edge matching of adjacent boards for the elimination of open cracks and scams, and practical control of said factor is aggravated by irregularities and inequalities inevitably characterizing the boards to be matched as a consequence of warping, twisting, and inaccurate milling, hence pointing the desirability of means employable during the laying of the finish floor to pressure-urge and clamp together the edges of the successively-laid boards as the same are positioned upon and nailed to the sub-floor, and the instant invention is directed to the provision of a conveniently employable facility of such character.

The improvement, as shown, is a unitary assembly of elements associated with and carried by an integral, relatively heavy, arched base It), preferably formed .of metal by moulding or casting, in such size, proportions, and particular contour as may be deemed suitable to its purposes. The base It! is laterally traversed by an upwardlyarched intermediate portion conveniently open ing through the base sides and interrupting the base lower surface to define spaced legs terminating in coplanar surfaces adapted for engagement with a sub-floor, or other supporting area, to dispose the base arch portion as a crown thereabove. The arch leg disposable adjacent the Work being done terminates in a relatively narrow surface or face ll from which integral, pointed lugs or spikes I2 project for anchoring penetration into the sub-floor boards on which the base is placed, while the other of the arch legs terminates in a relatively wider surface or face l3, coplanar with the area II., from which lugs or spikes l2 projectin the same manner and for the same purpose served by the like elements on the area H. The greater width of the surface I3 is determinative of a flange l4 along and extending laterally from the adjacent arch leg in position to serve as a tread plate Whereto pressure may be applied, as by means of an operator's foot, for urging the lugs or spikes l2 of the surface I 3 into penetrating engagement with the boards of a sub-floor l5 against which the terminal surfaces of the arch legs are disposed. It is the function of the lugs or spikes 12 to resist the effect of pressures tending to displace the base 10 relative to the supporting sub-floor [5 in a direction perpendicular to the base arch axis with the flange M as a leading element, and realization of such function is facilitated by forming the lugs or spikes l2 with faces perpendicular to their respective surfaces I l and I3 definitive of planes paralleling the arch axis on the lug or spike sides directed toward the free margin of the flange I4 and tapering the other lug or spike faces to intersect said plane faces in penetrating points.

Spaced webs I6 fixedly or integrally depend perpendicular to the arch axis centrally and interiorly of the base I arched portion to terminate in spaced relation with the plane common to the surfaces II and I3 and provide a mounting for a hinge pin I'I bridging therebetween parallel to the arch axis and in spaced relation within the arch crown. A slot opens through a portion of the base arched portion and leg terminating in the surface II perpendicular to the arch axis and in registration with the space between the websIS to operatively accommodate a rigid lever I8 hingedly engaged adjacent one of its ends with the pin I1 and extending thence through said slot to a projection exteriorly of and beyond the base arched portion where it terminuates in a manipulating handle. The end of the lever I8 within the arch of the base I0 is spaced from the plane common to the surfaces II and I3 and hingedly engages with one end of a rigid link I9 disposed to reciprocate in a plane adjacent and approximately parallel to that of said surfaces II and I3 through the end of said slot adjacent the surface II, and the end of said link exterior to the base I0 fixedly mounts a pressure block 20 whereof the margin remote from the lever I8 is arranged in parallelism with the base In arch axis and is longitudinally grooved for conforming engagement with and against the tongued margin or edge of conventional finish flooring boards. One side, or exterior corner,

of the base slot portion traversed by the lever I8 is toothed or notched, as at 2I, for latching coaction with a detent 22, preferably of ratchet type, operatively associated with said lever and selectively manipulatable thereon through conventional lever-mounted facilities in a usual manner, said detent cooperating with the base slot toothed or notched margin in an obvious relationship effective to releasably latch the lever IIB in positions determinative of various projections of the link I9 and block 20 relative to the base II].

In the practical use of the improvement, the base I0 is placed upon and pressed into penetrating engagement of its lugs or spikes I2 with the boards of a sub-floor I in the manner shown in Figure 1, the free, grooved margin of the block 20 being presented to and parallel with the tongue edge of the flooring board 23 to be acted upon and the base Ill being so spaced from the edge of said board as to provide an effective range of link I9 and block 20 travel outwardly and away from said base through the agency of the lever I8. With the elements so positioned and disposed, pressure applied to move the exterior end of the unlatched lever I8 relative to the base I0 and toward the flange I4 is transmitted with enhanced leverage through the link I9 and block 20 to crowd the engaged flooring board 23 into intimate marginal engagement with the previously-laid board, in which relation the so-clamped board may be held while being nailed in place through engagement of the detent 22 with the toothed or notched slot margin 2|, thus freeing the operators hands for nailing purposes.

Since changes, variations, and modifications in the form, construction, and arrangement of the elements shown and described may be had without departing from the spirit of my invention, I wish to be understood as being limited solely by the scope of the appended claim, rather than by any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention:

In a tool of the character and for the purposes described, an integral, upwardly-arched base unit of considerable mass open at its ends, a relatively-wider and'a relatively-narrower, fiat, floor-engaging face terminating the respective arch legs in a common plane parallel to the arch axis and extending the full length of the arch, integral penetrating points projecting perpendicularly from said faces, a tread surface opposedto said wider face and merging into said arch for the application of pressure to effect seating of said wider face penetrating points, a slot aperture formed through the arch crown midlength perpendicular to the arch axis and extending through the arch leg terminating in the relatively-narrower face to an end spacedly-adjacent said latter face, integral webs depending interiorly of said arch on opposite sides of said'slot aperture to mount a hinge pin parallel to the arch axis, a lever mounted on said hinge pin for oscillation through said slot aperture and terminating in a handle above the arch, ratchet teeth formed in one side of the slot aperture, a detent on said lever in latching cooperation with said teeth, a projection of said lever below the hinge pin interiorly of the arch, a link hinged to the end of said lever projection to slide through the slot aperture in bearing engagement with the end of the latter adjacent the relatively-narrower face, and a pressure block onthe free end of said link exteriorly of the arch.

WILLIAM A. MILLER.

Name Date Swett et al Jan. 31, 1905 Number 

